My Continuation to the TMM Series
by MetallicBlueFrog
Summary: A/N: I'm sorry but this story is on hold. I'm not discontinuing it, but I need some time to get back into the anime world from my K-pop people, so please wait patiently for updates. Gomen! *bows*
1. Chapter 1

Author's Note: To explain "introducing" Ringo, I mean that it's the first time I've used her(or Berry and Tasuku for that matter) in one of my TMM fics. Now, I don't know her whole story- 'cept that she's the red Mew Mew and she's from the video game- so don't judge. If anyone actually knows her story, what animal she's fused with, and if she has a love interest, please tell me. I'll also be introducing two new Mews of my own creation: a Red Panda and a Grevy's Zebra. (I honestly don't know how to pronounce Grevy, so don't ask.)

The girl's name fused with the Red Panda is Sakura Nahoko. She has green eyes and tan skin(not so much tan like Momo Adachi on Peach Girl, for those who are unfamiliar with the show). Her hair is a light red pixie cut(similar to Haruhi Fujioka from ouran High School Host Club, for those who don't know, except it's styled the same way as Rika from Higurashi- I know some people don't know this show very well). (No boy interest.)

Momoko Ayame is the name of the girl fused with the Grevy's Zebra. Her hair is chin length and is white with black streaks. She has no bangs and no part in her hair, so it just smoothes back(kinda like Yolei from Digimon(season 2)- and everyone should know that one). Her eyes are a very dark brown; alomst black. Her skin is very pale(the healthy kind of pale, of course), so she gets sunburns easily. (Could care less about a boy interest.)

Okay, so now that I've got all that covered, here are the ages for everyone: Ichigo and Mint are 15(Masaya and Ichigo are the same age, so he's also 15), Lettuce is 16, Pudding and Tart are 11, Zakuro and Momoko are 17, Berry and Tasuku are 14, Ringo and Sakura are 13, Ryou is 18, Keiichiro is 24, Kish is between 15-16, and Pie is between 17-18. Whew! That was a lot to type! Dang...

[The Real] Summary: Ryou has always loved Ichigo, but never said anything. She's always thought she hated him because he was a "jerk". What happens when Masaya starts acting weird(as if that's not normal), Ryou's actually being nice and helpful(to Ichigo), two new Mews come onto the scene, and everyone finds out that Lettuce has a HUGE secret about a whole other life they don't know about? Evidently, you get this very long story.

Well, that's enough outta me! I hope you enjoy the story and the conversation at the end of this chapter! R&R! Thank you! ^^

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Ichigo and Ryou

(a TMM fanfic)

Chapter 1

He's always loved her. Ever since that fateful day when he saved her from that rat Chirema Anima, he has loved her and wanted nothing more than to be close to her- except maybe her boyfriend, but he wasn't that greedy. The other Mews, Keiichiro, and Tasuku could tell he had deep feelings for her and wished he'd just tell her already. Sure, he didn't accept the feelings at first, but the more the feelings grew, the more he couldn't take it and succumbed to the feelings. There were only two problems: 1.) He always picked on her, making her "hate" him. 2.) She had a boyfriend.

She never really knew about her feelings for her blonde, blue-eyed boss. Everyone at the café seemed to think she liked him, but she would always ignore them and deny any voices in her head that told her they were right. Sure, he was extremely cute- no, scratch that; HOT- and intelligent beyond all other humans on this planet, but that didn't mean he was the nicest guy in the world, especially since he was as rich as Mint. Maybe she liked him before she and Masaya got serious, but he kept proving her theory of him being a pompous and arrogant jerk, which was a big turn-off to her. About the only thing that drew her to him was his eyes, his cat DNA, and the fact that he treated her differently from everyone else. She would like him if it weren't for two things: 1.) He always picked on her, making her "hate" him. 2.) She had a boyfriend.

It's a Saturday, meaning that school was over for the week. Ichigo Momomiya was exiting her new Junior High School. When Berry joined the Mews about two years ago, Ichigo had to join her other friends at the same school the new leader was going. It was hard at first, getting used to not having Moe and Miwa there to tell her how much of a freak she is (not that she would mind) and not seeing Masaya all the time, she almost lost it. Too bad this school was an all-girls' school. Ichigo and Berry missed their boyfriends most of the day. At least they could see them at work.

The six girls had finally arrived to Café Mew Mew to find their newest teammate, Ringo, already there. Dressed in her red waitress uniform, Ringo served the customers their tea and cakes. As soon as she heard the doors to the café open and close, she looked up and smiled at everyone.

"Hi girls!" She welcomed.

"Hey Ringo," the Mews greeted.

"How was school?" Ringo asked politely as she walked up to her colorful friends.

"Really great," Berry answered.

"We had a super cute guest speaker!" Ichigo beamed.

"I'll say. He was more attractive than Ryou," Mint agreed.

"I-I thought he was very intelligent," Lettuce added.

"He was a hunk!" Pudding squealed, jumping up and down.

"He was alright," Zakuro shrugged indifferently.

"Sounds awesome! Well, better get back to work before our bosses see us just standing here," Ringo advised.

"Oh. Heh heh. Right," Ichigo said nervously and sweat dropped, causing Mint to smirk at her and Berry to smile encouragingly to her.

After the first two months when Ichigo came back, Berry quickly got used to the bickering between her and Ryou. That's when she knew they liked each other. Ringo could tell as soon as she saw them together. Tasuku didn't get it until Berry told him, and then he saw all the signs. Lettuce was a little sad since she had a crush on Ryou. The others found it very obvious.

Now dressed in their work uniforms, the Mews got to work taking orders, serving the orders, welcoming the customers, and delivering orders door-to-door (this, obviously, would be Berry and Tasuku). Well, three of them did. Ichigo, of course, was working hard as usual: waiting on tables, getting tea for Mint every ten minutes, cleaning up Pudding's post-circus tricks, and cleaning up Lettuce's messes. Berry was working too, but got distracted by Mint who kept inviting her for 'tea time' whenever she got back for more orders. Ringo had fun watching Pudding's tricks as she carried out orders to her customers.

As expected, Mint was perched at her table in the corner and sipping at her tea. Today's select was herbal. Lettuce was nervously greeting customers and cleaning off the tables when they left, never failing to drop a plate or glass on her way to the kitchen. Pudding did her tricks and messed up every so often; either crashing into a person or wall, or losing her balance. And Zakuro, though she did do her job, kept scaring off the customers with her signature glare.

Yep, today was just a normal day at Café Mew Mew. But it seemed that the boys were late. Masaya and Tasuku hadn't shown up yet and Ichigo and Berry were worried, since they were always there on time. Then, as if on cue, Tasuku barged through the doors. But there was something wrong. His left hand was covering his left eye and it almost looked like he was crying. Everyone in the room watched him as he stormed up the stairs to the bathroom in the hallway.

Not long after this did Masaya walk casually into the pink building, smiling his usual makes-you-wanna-gag **(A/N: That's what I call it.)** smile. All eyes in the room turned to him, wondering what was going on. Ichigo waited two more seconds before walking up to him.

"Hi Masaya. Do you know why Tasuku just came in here the way he did?" She asked cautiously.

"Oh, he ran into something on his way here and got pretty embarrassed about it due to all the people who saw it happen," he replied calmly, still holding his smile. **(A/N: LIAR!!!)**

"Oh. I hope he's alright," Ichigo said sympathetically.

Berry- who overheard their conversation- piped up and offered her help. "I'll take him an ice pack." She ran to the kitchen and was running up the stairs in a flash.

Keiichiro came out of the kitchen wiping off his hands with a dish towel. "What was that about? One second, I'm minding my own business as I was putting the finishing touches on one of the cakes, and Berry frantically runs in. The next second, she's out as soon as she was in with a pack of ice."

"Masaya said that Tasuku ran into something and was embarrassed," Ichigo reported.

"What did he run into?" Keiichiro turned to Masaya for the answer, as did Ichigo and nearby eavesdropping ears.

"He wouldn't say. I saw him like that when we met on the street," Masaya explained.

"Maybe Berry will get it out of him," Keiichiro hypothesized. "Well, enough talking. Let's get back to work."

"Okay," Ichigo and Masaya said in unison.

Everyone went back to what they were doing: serving, taking orders, performing tricks, dropping dishes, sipping tea, glaring, and eating/drinking (if you were the customers). In about twenty minutes, Berry finally came back downstairs and empty-handed. She looked horrified. The other Mews noticed this and immediately gathered around her.

"What happened? What did he say?" They asked at the same time.

"I-I'll tell you a-after work," she stammered. "We should just worry about our job for now."

_How weird,_ Ringo mused. _Tasuku's being very mysterious about this._

_I get the feeling something big is going to happen,_ Minto contemplated.

_I hope everything works out fine in the end,_ Lettuce thought.

_Tar-Tar should work here. He would look totally cute in the waiters' uniform, like what Masaya and Tasuku wear!_ **(A/N: You don't need to be a genius to know who this is.)**

_Hmm… Something's up, _Zakuro suspected. _I get the feeling we don't know the whole truth as to what happened to Tasuku. And I think I know who we need to talk to about this._ Zakuro turned her head slightly towards Masaya.

Berry repeated 'poor Tasuku' in her head over and over again.

_Something's not right,_ Ichigo confirmed with herself. _Why does it seem like we're not getting the whole story? Masaya's acting a little… odd. His smile is distant and his eyes hold hatred. What the heck is going on?_ This is when something finally hit her. _Hey, wait a minute…_ "Hey Ringo," she called. The red Mew walked over to her to see what she wanted. "Where's Ryou?" She asked uncharacteristically timidly.

"I think I saw him go downstairs to the basement just before you girls got here. I guess he had something important to research. But I thought I heard him mutter something about you, Ichigo," Ringo explained as she looked up at nothing and put a finger to her chin as if deep in thought.

This caught the wildcat's interest. "Huh? What was he saying? Do you know?"

"Um… It sounded like, 'With Ichigo's luck, she'll be late for work even if the school is in such a short distance.' I started wondering what he meant by that." Ichigo sweat dropped at this. "He must really like to pick on you because you always show up at work early- the same time as everyone else. I don't see why he would say that."

"Yeah, well, you weren't here for the first year and a half that I was. My old school was much further away and even when I left school early, I got here late. You only know the 'Ichigo Momomiya' that stands before you now."

"Oh. Okay, I guess that does explain it then. But what about the raise you always argue with him for? It seems to me like you work very hard."

"Believe me; I used to work a lot harder than this. Before you and Berry joined, I was pretty much the only one who ever did any work around here. Notice how Mint's at her table, Lettuce is dropping plates, Pudding's messing up her tricks, and Zakuro is scaring the customers? That's how it was when we were first starting. Busy days were the worst."

"But you still work so hard, even though Berry and I are helping you now."

"That's because Ryou gives me more tables to serve than you guys. Plus, I've got Mint ordering me to get her tea every ten minutes."

"Ryou really should give you a raise," Ringo commented.

Ichigo looked to her and started whimpering. "That means so much to me for you to say that, Ringo! You and Berry are definitely my favorites." She gave her apple friend a bear hug.

Ringo happily obliged the hug and patted her strawberry friend's back. "Why don't you try asking for a raise right now?" Ringo suggested as she and Ichigo parted. "You haven't asked for one in a while and if you ask real sweetly, I'm sure he'll give it to you." She smiled warmly.

"Are you crazy?! He'll just laugh at me and make some stupid joke about me like he always does." Ichigo folded her arms across her chest in a huff and pouted. "And I'm sure if that happens, it'll be the time I finally break down and lose it."

"Just try. You never know if today might be the day."

"I used to think that."

"Come on Ichigo. Aside from Pudding, you're the most positive girl I know. You have to have faith in yourself."

Ichigo thought about it for a second longer before admitting defeat. Slumping her shoulders and letting her hands fall to her sides, she said, "Okay. I'll do it."

"That's the way to go!" Ringo cheered and pumped a fist into the air. "Tell me what happens. Gotta get back to work."

"'Kay." With that, Ichigo headed to the basement where her blonde boss would surely be waiting to reject her demand.

End of Chapter 1

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Me: Oh... my... GOSH! I never thought I could write conversations like that! I'm so flippin' proud of mahself! ~hugs self~

Tart: Could you be any weirder?

Pudding: Yay! I want to hug myself too! ~hugs self~

Tart: ...I'm surrounded by freaks.

Pudding: Come on, Tar-Tar! You have to hug yourself too. Mine made me feel all warm and fuzzy inside!

Tart: ...Fine. ~hugs self~ There. Happy now?

Pudding: (jumping up and down with excitement)

Me: Oh, yeah. I think she's verrrrry happy. Now, if- Pudding settle down...

Pudding: (settles down and looks up at me, smiling)

Me: ...if you two wouldn't mind, will you-

Pudding: Okay!

Tart: You don't even know what she was gonna say yet.

Pudding: ~shrugs~ I had a feeling.

Tart: ...

Me: AS I was saying, if you two wouldn't mind, could you do the 'thing'?

Tart: What's the 'thing'?

Pudding: Come on, Tar-Tar! You know what the 'thing' is!

Tart: ~folds arms~ No, I don't. And stop calling me 'Tar-Tar'!!

Pudding: You big silly! (whispers in Tart's- foot-long- ear)

Tart: Oh! That 'thing'!

Pudding: Duhhh!

Tart: (puts hands on hips and turns to me with a frown) Well, why didn't you just say so?

Me: (smacks hand to forehead and shakes head) Everyone knows what the 'thing' is. I assumed you knew.

Tart: Hmph! (folds arms across chest again and turns away from me) Excuse me for not living on this planet!

Pudding: So here's the 'thing': REVIEW!!!

Me: Um... Please?

Tart: ~mumbles~ Hmph. I coulda figured out that's what she meant.

Pudding: But ya didn't!

Tart: So what? (pouts and sticks out tongue)

Me: Like we said, review please. Arigato!


	2. Strawberry Confusion

Author's Note: Ummmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmm... I don't have much to say for this chapter, so you can just go ahead and read the darned thing.

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Chapter 2

Down in the basement, Ryou Shirogane was busy typing away on the computer **(A/N: Pretty much like what I'm doing right now!) **when he heard the familiar sounds of Ichigo's footsteps on the stairs leading to him. He turned his chair towards the door and prepared himself for the repeated speech. That same repeated speech she always gave when she wanted that darned raise that they both knew all too well she deserved.

"Ryou!" She called. Her voice wasn't angry or nagging- yet- but it was firm. She reached the bottom of the stairs and saw Ryou smirking that same smirk he always wore when she was asking- okay, maybe not so much asking rather than demanding- a raise.

"Yes, Ichigo?" He jeered.

"Ringo made a very good point just now when she told me that even now, when there are two other girls and two boys who actually work in this café, I still work harder than anyone else. I haven't once broken a dish or glass since I came back from England. I am pleading- begging on my knees"- she got on her knees for emphasis –"for this raise that we both know I deserve. Please, Ryou. Just add five dollars. That's all I want. And no, I don't mean for when I get my paycheck, I see that there's only five dollars there. You know very well what I mean." She was doing really well at keeping her calm- to her surprise.

Ryou pretended to think about it by rubbing his chin and rolling his eyes back. "Hmm… No," he replied simply and looked down at her expectantly. He knew what would happen next.

First, she'd start ranting about how it wasn't fair that she did all that work, yet he wouldn't pay her extra for it. Next, she'd really start getting loud after he said something clever, and then throw a tantrum. And finally, he'd push a huffing-and-puffing Ichigo back up the stairs and order her to get back to work.

But that's not at all what happened.

Ichigo stared at him long and hard. She tried as much as she possibly could to read his crystal blue eyes. To her dismay, there was only amusement and what she could only assume was confusion. What did he have to be confused about? It's not the first time she's come barging in on him for a raise.

When he finally shook free of his shock to her reaction- if that's what he should call it- Ryou spoke his reasoning, realizing he's never given her a reason for not giving her a raise. "If I gave you a raise, everyone else would want one. I may be rich, but there are other, more important things I could do with my money."

"You haven't though." She grabbed his hands and rested her elbows on his knees. "First off, it's not like Mint needs the money. She's got as much wealth as you. Lettuce tries, but she's not the type to ask for something such as a raise. She doesn't think of herself as charity. Pudding… Okay, she might come to you for a raise, but even though she doesn't deserve it, she does need it." Ichigo thought of the monkey girl and how no one else lived with her except her brothers and sister. "And Zakuro doesn't need the raise, as if she'd ask or demand for one. She's got a completely different career that pays way more, making her about as rich as you and Mint.

"Ryou, you know I need this raise more than anyone." She moved up closed to his face in an abrupt manner and tightened her grip on his hands, making him blush slightly. "You know I how hard I work. Please… It's almost not even worth my time if I'm not paid as much as I work. If I have to, I'll quit. It's not like we absolutely have to keep working here." Her voice began faltering. "There's no danger in the world anymore, so there's no point. Either you give me a raise… or I q-quit." She'd lost her smooth flow and replaced it with despair. She looked down sadly at their entwined hands.

Inside, he was panicking. Ryou didn't want to lose her just because of a few dollars she wanted. Not only did he love her- the reason being- but she was, indeed, a very good worker. But before he could stop himself, he stupidly opened his stupid mouth.

"Sorry, Ichigo. I stand firm with my decision." His face- which had lost the smirk a while ago and covered itself with no emotion- remained the same and the blush disappeared. He couldn't believe he'd just said that. Now she was going to quit and it was all his fault.

She shot her head up and started leaning back. "Then… I guess I don't work here anymore. I'll go pack up my things." Ichigo stood slowly- shading her strawberry-chocolate eyes with her bangs- and ran up the stairs to the basement door.

Ryou could have sworn he'd caught a small glimpse of a tear slide down her cheek as she was turning her head from him. She didn't really want to leave, did she? So what was with all that talk? He had to admit she'd made some very excellent points. Where'd she learn to argue like that? Probably in England with her 'precious' Masaya.

Still sitting in the chair, he decided to go after her… before that boyfriend of hers did. He sprinted out the door, through the café- where he got strange looks that were unnoticed by him- and down the hall where the girls' changing room would be.

When she left the basement, Ichigo couldn't help the tear that slid down her face. She hoped Ryou hadn't seen it. As she ran into the café, the Mews stopped her momentarily, asking what's wrong. She just shook her head and made a break for the changing room. There, she cried into her arms, which were propped up on the vanity where she sat.

Ryou suddenly burst through the door of the changing room and caught the sight of the red-headed girl just before she shot her head up. Frowning, she turned in her seat so that her back was facing him. He felt horrible. So that tear he saw wasn't his imagination. He felt so low. He'd made the girl he loves… cry. It almost broke his heart to see her like this. He slowly made his way to the girl, positioning himself right behind her, and wrapped his arms around her. This, of course, startled her because she never thought he'd do anything like that. Was he trying to comfort her?

"Ichigo," he murmured. She almost didn't hear him. "Please… don't quit. Everyone will miss you if you go." His lips were right by her ear and she could feel his warm breath tickling it when he spoke. The sensation sent shivers down her spine. "I'll… miss you."

This made Ichigo really shocked; so shocked that her absent ears and tail popped out, which pushed Ryou off of her and made him fall to the floor. _Ohhh! Stupid tail and ears! Why now? I thought they were gone,_ Ichigo thought frantically.

"Ichigo… your ears… and tail," Ryou said dumbly as he rubbed the back of his head, which had hit the floor when he was knocked back.

"Yeah, no duh, genius," she snapped. She was still crying, so her voice was a little shaky.

"Okay, I guess I deserve that. Listen, Ichigo, I don't want to lose you just because of a little money. You're too important to me." Ichigo started wondering what he meant by all of this. It was as if he actually cared about her as more than an employee or defender of justice. More like a friend or… something else. She listened to him continue. "How could I let my best employee and ultimate weapon leave like this?"

That struck a chord and she finally turned to face him. "So… That's really all you think of me as? Someone to use and pay her for it? You're telling me that we have no sort of friendship between us whatsoever?!"

"Um…" Ryou was a bit taken aback, though he should've known better. _Great she's mad at me; even more than earlier,_ he thought. "We could be… friends…" He said hesitantly.

Ichigo studied him before speaking again. "Something tells me you don't want to be."

_You're right. I want to be more than friends._ He stood up and looked at her intently. "You have no idea how wrong you are, Ichigo Momomiya." His voice was husky and soft.

This made her believe what he was saying. "Then… prove it," she challenged as she dried her eyes. "Ryou Shirogane, I give you my three weeks notice. If you can't prove that we can be friends in that time… I'm outta here. If we do become friends, you have to give me a raise or the same consequence follows."

Ryou thought about it. He knew she'd throw in the raise. What if he agreed, but it turned out that they really couldn't be friends? If he didn't agree, she would leave and he might never see her again. Although, if he did agree, he would at least get to see her and they might actually be friends in the end. If not, more. It was risky, but he compelled all the same.

"I accept," he finally answered, almost a little too eagerly.

"Okay, then. Now, I have requirements for this… test."

"Like what?" Ryou breathed a sigh of relief and relaxed his shoulders.

"Starting tomorrow, we have to spend all the free time we have together for those three weeks. If I'm not on a date with Masaya or doing something important like that"- Ryou scoffs –"we have to spend that time together. I doubt you have any busy schedules except sleeping really late and researching. So most likely, you're free! Right?"

She looked a little happier than she did a few minutes before. He couldn't say he was busy. She was right. That's about all he ever did was sleep, research, eat, manage the café when it was open, and sleep and research some more. It wasn't much of a schedule, he had to admit. In fact, it made him realize just how much of a waste of time it was.

"Yeah, free all the time." He stuffed his hands in his pockets.

"That will all change this next three weeks. We'll do whatever I say, but don't worry. It won't be anything too horrible for you. If you have fun, it won't be as bad as you think."

_Why does she always have to make everything sound so positive and, somehow, girly? I have to do this, though. If I want her to stay around, I'll have to just put up with whatever she makes us do,_ he thought. _Maybe I can see if Keiichiro will do the research I need to do. Obviously, I won't be able to do it. Goodbye sleep. At least I'll still be able to eat and manage the café._

They shook hands to confirm their 'test' and went back to work. But when they got back to the dining hall- or the actual café part of Café Mew Mew- everyone was arguing and the customers were long gone. Keiichiro and Lettuce were trying to calm everyone down with no luck. Masaya was arguing with Berry and Tasuku. Mint and Zakuro had somehow ended up fighting. And Pudding and Ringo were throwing Pudding's trick props at each other. The reason could only be because everyone else was fighting.

Ryou put two fingers in his mouth and whistled quite loudly. "That's enough!"

Everyone in the room turned to look at his angry face and noticed Ichigo- who was sort of hiding behind Ryou and looking up at him- with a surprised face. They winced at him and quieted themselves. Never, since they've known him, has he ever looked the way he did right that second.

"We're gone for, what, ten minutes and you all go crazy! What could have possibly happened to make you all start arguing so much that you drive the customers away?"

The Mews and the two boys began talking all at once and it was very hard to understand what they were saying. Ichigo had long overcome her surprise at Ryou and decided to put her two-cents in. "Quiet! Not only am I upset that one of my teammates and her boyfriend were fighting with my boyfriend, but I'm upset that any of you were arguing at all. The only ones who weren't arguing were Lettuce and Keiichiro, but that's expected. I want to know right now why everyone else was fighting! And one at a time please. Mint and Zakuro, why were you two fighting?"

"Well, Masaya said something to Zakuro and she said something back. They continued like that until I said something in her defense- which was a regretful mistake that I'll never make again- and Zakuro blew up at me. We ended up arguing as the result," Mint explained as she folded her arms across her chest and pouted.

"Okay… Masaya, what did you say to Zakuro?" Ichigo asked when she looked to him.

"All I said was that she would look prettier if she smiled more and she completely took it the wrong way," he replied innocently.

"You freaking liar!" Zakuro shouted. "You never said that. You said that I was one of the ugliest girls you've ever seen!"

"Masaya… Is this true?" Ichigo questioned uncertainly. She didn't know who to believe. The one she loves or one of her best friends? Neither of them would ever lie about anything, so there was no knowing who was lying and who wasn't.

"Of course it's not true, Ichigo. She's a very beautiful girl. How else could she be a model?" There it was. The innocent tone. But something was different about it. It sounded forced.

"That's so not what you said," Mint argued back. Now she was arguing with him? Ichigo was so confused. This was almost as bad as when she and the Mews had to fight him as Deep Blue. "You said that she must have paid her way into stardom. Everyone knows Zakuro didn't have much money when she first started out."

"That's right." Ichigo knew that about her purple-haired friend. "Masaya, why would you say that? I don't understand."

"Don't listen to them, Ichigo." Masaya put his **(A/N: ~coughs~ grimy ~coughs~)** hands on Ichigo's shoulders and looked her in the eye. "They're lying to you for attention. They're just being selfish."

"But… My friends aren't like that. They wouldn't lie for my attention." She frowned as she spoke. Her voice was cautious.

"If you still don't believe us," Tasuku interjected, "then let me tell you what he did to me before we got here."

"What happened?" Ichigo asked, looking from Tasuku to Berry and back.

"Berry told me the lame story he told all of you. Can he remember what it was?" Tasuku looked up at Masaya deviously.

Masaya looked nervous. "Um… I told them that… you ran into something."

"Lucky break. That's what Berry told me you said." He turned to Ichigo. "Yeah, I ran into something… HIS FIST! He punched me!" He uncovered his left eye for Ichigo to finally see. It was horrible. His eye was swollen; almost closed all the way. Completely black with a purplish tint.

Ichigo cringed at the sight. "Tasuku… That looks… terrible."

"You can thank your 'boyfriend' for that. I saw him on my way here and caught up to talk to him. He was acting all friendly like usual, until he punched me out of nowhere! I was so flabbergasted that I ran the rest of the way here." Tasuku lightly touched his eye and flinched at the sting.

"No, he did that to himself so that we'd all feel sorry for him. You believe me over these people who you call your friends, don't you Ichigo?" Masaya persuaded, trying to get her to believe him.

"I… don't know." The Mews' breaths caught in their throats. "You're my boyfriend… and I love you with all my heart. But these are my best friends. The best in the world. I'm not sure… who to believe."

"Go ahead and believe him," Ryou said distantly.

Ichigo looked up at him. His arms were folded over his chest and his posture showed that he was irritated. He wasn't staring at anything. Just looking straight ahead, focused on the air in front of him. "Huh? But Ryou…" Ichigo started but he cut her off.

"It's okay. Besides, innocent until proven guilty, right? Unless you catch him in the act of the things everyone's blaming him for, he's just a suspect. When someone finally decides to come clean about what's happening that's when we can judge." He let his arms fall to his sides and turned towards the stairs. "Just know, Ichigo, that if you do believe him over them, you're not betraying them. They'll forgive you. Right ladies?"

It was quiet. No one made a sound or movement. They didn't know how to answer. Ringo was the first to speak.

"I'll forgive her." She sounded sincere and determined.

Pudding followed suit. "Me too!"

"And me," Berry added.

"I will forgive you, Ichigo." Lettuce smiled to her strawberry red-headed friend.

"I'll forgive you, kiddo," Zakuro said fondly and smirked.

"Okay, fine. I'll forgive you too," Mint decided. "But I'll be so mad at you for the longest time! And for the record, you know us all better than anyone, so you should know that we would never lie to you about anything. We wouldn't make any of this up out of nowhere just because we 'want attention' from you. We get a lot of attention from you already, so there would be no reason for us to 'suddenly' lash out at your 'boyfriend'.

"Yes, I'll forgive you. But not before I get extremely angry and kick your boyfriend's butt, and then slap you a few billion times! If I'm angry enough, look forward to becoming my personal slave.

"You were still getting to know him when I first met you." She kept her eyes fixed on Ichigo's as she pointed at Masaya. "Even then, you knew what kind of person I was, right?"

"Yeah, I thought you were a sarcastic, rich snob," Ichigo admitted.

"And now?"

"I still think that, but I love you for it because we're friends."

"Exactly. We're friends, Ichigo. Best friends, in fact. We were friends before he gave you that stupid bell and we were friends when he turned into Deep Blue. Just because you've known him longer, doesn't mean you know him better than you know me- or any of us for that matter.

"Heck, you know Ryou better than him! I bet there are secrets Masaya still hasn't told you yet. But you know all of ours. For this, you know us very well." Mint paused for a long time and Masaya looked like he wanted to hit something **(A/N: ~coughs~ someone ~coughs~)** again.

"Whether you believe us or not," Mint sighed exasperatedly, "we'll forgive you because we're you're friends and we love you. We want you to be happy and if that means believing your creep-of-a-boyfriend over us, then so be it," she finished quietly. "I'm exhausted. I'm going home. Bye everybody." With that, she left for the changing room and supposedly left out the back door; most likely to avoid the crowd in the front.

"Well, if she's going home, then you're all free to leave as well," Ryou informed before heading up the stairs to his room.

Everyone stayed silent, as if speaking would bring the world to extinction. After a while, they all went home to think about the day's events. Ichigo needed a lot of time to think and Ryou had some planning to do.

End of Chapter 2

* * *

Ringo: Wow, that was a very good chapter!

Me: Hey, thanks Ringo!

Ringo: No problem. But it seemed like I didn't get much of a part in this one.

Me: Don't worry. The rest of the cast needs to find out why you and Pudding were fighting. So you'll get to speak in the next chapter or the one after it. Also, I think I might have Ichigo call you in the next chapter just so you get to speak.

Ringo: Great! Thanks! ~hugs me~

Me: No prob! ~hugs her~

Ringo: Now for the 'thing'. Please review for this talented writer. She'd appreciate it very much.

Me: (stunned speechless) Wow, Ringo, you're really on a roll! And look at me; I'm blushing! ~blushes~ You sure do know how to make someone feel like their work is worth it! And you're so well-mannered!

Ringo: Thank you!

Me: Oh... I think I may cry...

Ringo: I'll cry with you.

Me & Ringo: (bawling our eyes out)

random person: Um... I guess they want you to review? Whatever that is. (walks away)


	3. Part 1 Figuring Things Out

Author's Note: Question, question! Who's wondering what Ryou's planning? Tee hee! Guess you'll just have to figure that out for yourselves! Now, I split this chapter into two parts cuz the way this part ends... well, I just couldn't add on. And I still had more to say, so the 2nd part will be about the same length and that's when Ringo will get her speaking part while it's still chapter 3. If you remember from last chapter, I told her I would give her a speaking part in this chapter, so it still counts this way.

That's enough from me! (For now. ~grins evilly~) On with the story! And don't forget to review. They make me so happy! ^^

* * *

Chapter 3  
(Part 1)

As Ichigo was lying on her bed, she thought about Mint's words. She had made very good points and was completely right. But then she thought about Ryou's words. He'd seemed so sad about it and rejected in some way. His voice had been so solemn.

**_~FLASHBACK~_**

_"Go ahead and believe him," Ryou said distantly. _

_Ichigo looked up at him. His arms were folded over his chest and his posture showed that he was irritated. He wasn't staring at anything. Just looking straight ahead, focused on the air in front of him. "Huh? But Ryou…" Ichigo started but he cut her off._

_"It's okay. Besides, innocent until proven guilty, right? Unless you catch him in the act of the things everyone's blaming him for, he's just a suspect. When someone finally decides to come clean about what's happening that's when we can judge." He let his arms fall to his sides and turned towards the stairs. "Just know, Ichigo, that if you do believe him over them, you're not betraying them. They'll forgive you."_

**_~END FLASHBACK~_**

She sat up and wondered why he would say that. Sometimes, she just didn't understand him. It was funny how he could sound so wise when he was a jerk most of the time. Why couldn't he be like that more often?

Looking at the alarm clock next to her bed, she sighed got ready for bed. Then, she remembered the 'test' she agreed to do with Ryou. It started tomorrow, so she'd have to call to see when the best time for them to go out would be for him. That's when it hit her that she had a picnic date with Masaya in the afternoon.

After the incident earlier today, she didn't know if she wanted to be with Masaya right now. Or her other friends for that matter. Ryou was the only one she felt comfortable being with. Why was that?

Deciding to put off the date for another day, Ichigo reached for her phone on the end of the bed and dialed Masaya's number. He picked up halfway through the first ring and greeted her. **(A/N: Needy much?)**

"Hi Masaya," she answered back. "I just called to see if we can have our date another day. I don't feel like going out tomorrow."

_"Do you not feel well?"_ He asked worriedly.

"No, it's not that. I just want to stay home," she lied. _Why am I lying to him?_

_"Then, I'll just come over there. Your parents won't mind, will they?"_ He insisted. **(A/N: Geez, take the hint and get a life!)**

"No- Well, my dad will mind- Uh, no, I mean… I just feel like being alone. After today, I just want to be by myself and think things over."

_"Okay. Yeah, I understand. Can you believe how everyone acted? They made me look like the bad guy."_ **(A/N: Great, he's tattling on her friends for something they didn't even do. What a big baby! He sure is the spoiled brat. ~sweat drop~ Heh heh! Just read on!)**

"Please, don't talk about them that way. Whether they're at fault or not, they're still my friends and I'd appreciate it if you didn't carry this on." **(A/N: Yeah! You go girl! Tell him what's what! ~sweat drop~ Tee hee! Got carried away. Sorry!)** "Talk to you later, Masaya." She hung up before she heard his protest and dropped her phone on the bed.

Slowly making her way to her desk, Ichigo thought more about the day's events. When she reached the desk, she sat down in the chair and took out some paper and a pencil. If she wrote down all the reasons why she should believe her friends, and then write the reasons for believing Masaya, maybe everything would become clearer.

**Reason(s) for believing friends:**

**1.) ****Know more about them and been through a lot more.**

** 2.) ****Have a lot of fun together.**

** 3.) Love them to death and beyond no matter what.**

So maybe they weren't the best reasons in the world, but there were two more than Masaya's list.

**Reason(s) for believing Masaya:**

** 1.) ****Love him and been through a lot together.**

Ichigo was a little surprised about her reasons. Not only were they lame but they said something. All she needed was to know who she loved more: Masaya or her friends. Her friends meant a whole lot to her. But Masaya did too. She literally gave her life for him. **(A/N: What in the world possessed her to do such a stupid, unnecessary thing?) **

Maybe she would have to go with what Ryou had said. _"Unless you catch him in the act of the things everyone's blaming him for, he's just a suspect." _Innocent until proven guilty, huh? Then, she'll just have to play everything by ear. That's when it hit her. She was following advice given to her from Ryou.

Ryou! Out of all the people to follow advice from, it had to be him! Why in the world..? What was possessing her to do such a thing? It's _Ryou_ for heaven's sake! Her boss- who just so happened to make a deal with her not too long ago about being friends- and she was actually listening to him for once. Was something wrong with her? Why on earth would _she_ ever think to listen to her _boss_? Yup. Something was definitely wrong with her.

Meanwhile at the café, Ryou was in his room at the computer, planning ways to make Masaya look bad in front of Ichigo when she "just happened" to be there. It might take a few tries, but he would make sure Ichigo saw Masaya for who he truly was. He would make sure she knew the truth as to what had happened that afternoon.

There was a knock on his door and Keiichiro came in. "Hey, what are you doing?" He asked.

"Planning ways to make Ichigo see the truth behind today. If it doesn't work, I'll have to take extra special measures."

"And if that doesn't work?"

Ryou turned to his old friend and smirked. "I'll make her fall in love with me," he replied proudly.

Keiichiro chuckled as he folded his arms. "And how do you suppose to keep Masaya out of the picture while you're doing that?"

"Easy. I'll start tomorrow when Ichigo and I go on our date."

Keiichiro's arms fell limp to his sides in shock. "Whoa! Hold the phone… What's this about a date?" He placed his hands on his hips.

Ryou put up his hands in defense. "Her idea."

"What?!"

"Well, okay, it's not an actual date because we're going to be spending all of our free time together. Wait, that also sounds wrong. See, we made a sort of… bet, I guess you could say. She was about to quit and to keep her, I agreed to what she called a 'test' in which, for three weeks, we'd be spending every moment of her free time together and if we became friends in the end, she'll stay, but only if I give her a raise of five dollars more. If we don't become friends, she'll quit. The three weeks is her three weeks notice."

"Well… I must say… I never thought Ichigo would do something like this. But I wonder, why does she want so much to be friends with you?"

"Good question. I think she's doing this because she doesn't really want to leave, and becoming friends would be the only way she could stand being here."

"What an outstanding hypothesis!"

"Not really."

"I don't know… Sounds like you're right on the mark."

"Maybe…"

"Well, I'm taking off. See you Monday, Ryou." Keiichiro turned to go, but was stopped.

"Wait, Keiichiro. I need you to do some research for me tomorrow, seeing as I won't be here to do it."

"Sure," he smiled. "Goodbye then."

"See ya, Keiichiro." Ryou turned back around to his work when Keiichiro left.

_What now? Does this mean she actually likes me enough to work here? Maybe I should ask her if I can just give her the raise and be done with it. Besides, I thought we were friends. Just because I like to tease her all the time and make her work a lot, doesn't mean I don't like her. I just want to see her more. And maybe that's being selfish, but I can't help it._ As Ryou pondered over this, he was unaware of a pair of brown eyes watching him.

End of Chapter 3  
(Part 1)

* * *

Gee, I wonder who the peeper is. (Tee hee! Peeper... That's such a funny word!... Awkward and weird moment! Me scawed!) Anyway, I know who it is, of course, and I ain't tellin' ya'll nothin'! Nope! Not tellin'. No, no, no, no, no! ... OKAY! I can't take it anymore! It's-

Ringo: Froggy! You can't tell them. It'll ruin the whole suspense thing you're going for.

Me: Hmm... You're right, Ringo. Thanks. I almost made a big mistake.

Ringo: You're welcome!

Me: Now, if you readers will please... REVIEW!! ^^

Ringo: ^-^


	4. Part 2 Figuring Things Out

Author's Note: I am SO loving where this story's headed! So... we don't find out who the "peeper" was from last time in this chapter, but in the next chapter, there will be a clue at the end, so look out! Haha! Yes, I know this part of the chapter is way longer than what I said it was going to be, but when I got to "that point", it just wasn't ready to end, so I had to keep writing. But it turned out really great in the end!

Those who reviewed have been really great so far and you had some interesting thoughts on the whole TMM series, whether it was the anime or manga. Thanks to one of you(you know who you are... hopefully), I'm more open to the idea of PaixLettuce as opposed to what I used to think of them being together. (I've always liked PaiZaku and KeiLett. Now, I don't really care who ends up with who.) And it's given me some ideas for those hardcore PaixLettuce and ZakuroxKeiichiro fans. So keep reading if you want to find out who ends up with who! Tee hee! XD

* * *

Chapter 3  
(Part 2)

Back in Ichigo's room, she was sitting on her bed, still trying to make sense of the afternoon's events… and of herself. On the one hand, she couldn't decide whether to choose her boyfriend over her friends, or vice versa. On the other hand, she couldn't understand why she was listening to Ryou's advice. It seemed as though things had suddenly gotten so complicated in her life. Well, it wouldn't be the first time.

Deciding this was getting her nowhere, Ichigo decided to call someone she knew she could always trust no matter what. Grabbing her cell, she dialed a number.

_"Hello?"_ The person answered.

"Hey Ringo! It's Ichigo."

_"Oh, hi Ichigo! What's up?"_ She asked.

"Well, I'm still trying to figure out who to believe: Mint, Zakuro, and Tasuku, or Masaya?"

_"Well, let's see. You have known Masaya a lot longer- as Mint said- but you do know the other girls way better. If it were me in your place, I'd go with who I know better. It would be too hard to figure out who I love more since it's so close, so the person- or people in this case- I know better would be my best bet of who to believe._

_"Look, you know all of us very well, Ichigo. You know that none of us would ever lie to you about anything, unless we broke something of yours and wanted to be funny about it. That would most likely be Pudding and Mint. Uh-oh! Sorry, I was babbling. Anyway, if you're still unsure of who to believe, then just go with your gut-instinct. That should help in any situation. I would say to go with what your heart says, but sometimes, it gets confused._

_"Like, you want to be faithful to Masaya, so your heart would tell you to believe him. But you also want to be loyal to your friends. Gut-instinct is the best way to go with this. I'm sure of it. Yep!"_

Ichigo frowned in thought. "Hmmm… Gut-instinct, huh? I'll try it!" She smiled at her choice.

_"That's the way! Well, I have to go. My brother wants me to do something."_

"Wait a second."

_"What is it?"_

"I was wondering why you and Pudding were fighting."

_"Oh, that,"_ Ringo chuckled. _"We were just fighting because everyone else was fighting and we felt left out."_

"Oh!" Ichigo laughed at her friends' silliness. "Okay then. Bye Ringo!"

_"Bye Ichigo! I hope you figure it out."_

"Thanks. And thank you for everything."

_"No problem! Bye!"_

"Bye!" She hung up and sighed as she lay back on her bed. _Alright gut-instinct... Do your thing,_ Ichigo thought. Two hours passed by. It was now eleven o' clock at night and she was starting to get really tired. Before she knew it, she was asleep and dreaming.

**_~DREAM~_**

_Ichigo is running through a field of wheat _**(A/N: It's a dream. Don't judge.)**_ and sees a light in the distance. It's night time, so she can barely see what it is. Form what she can tell, it's a person. As she gets closer, the person turns out to be Masaya! _**(A/N: Oh, gag me.)**

_She calls out to him, but there's no sound and she's confused. When she nears him, Ichigo trips and everything is in slow-motion. She reaches for Masaya's hand, but he takes it away. She keeps falling forward and hits the ground. Or, at least, she thinks it's the ground. _

_It's different and softer and… split in two? Come to think of it, she felt two arms around her torso. Did Masaya finally catch her? But he's still standing in front of her, a look of disgust on his face. Then… Who had caught her? This is when it finally dawns on her to look._

_She turns her head to see… Ryou?! What is he doing there? And why is he the one who caught her? As she studies his face, she sees anger and hatred. That's when she notices who he's looking at._

_Looking back up at Masaya, she gasps at the sight of him. It's not Masaya at all anymore! It's Deep Blue! A wave of fear suddenly flows through her body. She shudders and Ryou tightens his hold on her. He is now holding her bridal style over his knee._

_Again, she tries to speak and is successful this time. "Masaya… What happened? Why do you look like that? This isn't real. This isn't real, right? Please, say it isn't real!"_

_"Forget him, Ichigo," Ryou says grimly. "He's changed. And he'll never be the same __'Masaya' we all knew."_

_"But… He's still my Masaya. I still love him!" Ichigo struggles to get out of Ryou's strong hold._

_He restrained her fast. "No, Ichigo! You'll just get hurt!"_

_"I don't care!" Ichigo manages to get out of her safety grip and runs to Deep Blue. _

_She gets closer to him, only to be greeted by a cut to the throat from Deep Blue's sword. She screams bloody murder and falls to her knees; hands clasped to the wound to stop the bleeding._

_Deep Blue prepares to slice her skin again when a gray cat gets in the way, and gets cut instead of Ichigo. Realizing nothing is happening to her, Ichigo opens her eyes to see the action take place right in front of her._

_"Alto!" She croaks. Then, the cat changes form to Ryou and falls to the ground. "Ryou!!!" She manages to scream. Only then does she remember that he was holding her just a minute ago and wonders when he transformed into Alto._

_"I'm okay. Just run away from here!" Ryou shouts, holding his left arm._

_"But… you're hurt… and it's all… it's all my fault…" She whispers as she smoothes his hair, no longer concerned about her injured throat._

_"Don't say that! I don't ever want to hear that from you!" He yells at her. She's taken aback and jumps at his outburst. "You mean too much to me to… I care too much about you to… to let you say that… about yourself."_

_"Ryou…" Ichigo takes Ryou's head in her lap as he looks at her warmly._

_"I have to confess something. I… I always liked teasing you. But it was never to be mean. I just… I just liked seeing you get all worked up over such trivial things. It really made my day. What I'm saying is… I… I lo…" And then he died in her arms._

_Ichigo burst into tears and shook him a little. "What?! You what?! Ryou! Ryou, please speak to me! Don't leave me now! Come back! Ryou, come back!" She hugged him to her blood-covered chest and cried into his golden blonde hair._

_"Would you like to join him?" A menacing voice questioned._

_"Yes! I'd do anything to be with him again! I'd give anything…" She sobbed._

_"But Ichigo… I thought you loved me." This voice was Masaya's. It was sweet and innocent, but forced. Much like it had been at the café._

_She looked up at him and frowned as anger flooded her body. "Used to. I used to love you! Not anymore! I don't care who you were when you killed him, but now Ryou is gone and I won't ever see him again! I-!" She starts realizing what she's saying and quiets down, her face is confused. " I… loved him. I love him." Then, she gets angry again- even more this time- and stands. _

_"How dare you kill my Ryou!? You'll pay for you're most evil deed!" The next thing she knew, she's clad in her Mew Mew uniform and holding her Strawberry Bell. "Strawberry Surprise Power-Up! Strawberry Flash!" This attack was new and much stronger than her other ones. Not to mention, it really did the trick. Deep Blue/Masaya was gone and never coming back._

_She changed back to her regular self and attended to Ryou. "Ryou! Ryou, everything's okay now. You can wake up." She stares at him hopefully as she's starting to feel light-headed. She's lost a lot of blood already and she was due to die any minute now. _

_"Please, Ryou… open your eyes. I want to tell you how I feel about you. You were telling me earlier, weren't you? Before you died. You were about to tell me you love me. I accept the feelings, Ryou. And I return them with all my heart. So please… Won't you wake up?" She watched him and after a long time, finally decided he wasn't coming back either. "Ryou!" She cried._

**_~END DREAM~_**

"Ryou! Ryou! How could you leave me?! Ryou!!! Ah!" She woke up and realized it was all just a dream. _What a… what a terrifying… horrible dream!_ She thought. She would have said it out loud, but the fact that she was breathless and her hand was strangling her throat, didn't help with that too much.

She jerked her hand away from her neck and breathed deeply to calm herself. "Why did I dream that? Does it mean something? But what, I wonder." She looked at her alarm clock and saw that it was six in the morning. "Well, there's no use getting back to sleep now. Guess I'll just plan the events for today."

Surprisingly to her, it only took an hour for her to complete the list, considering the fact that she had decided to plan all events for the three weeks. **(A/N: That's right! She decided this when ya'll weren't looking! Haha!)** In case they ran through the list before the three weeks was up, she thought they'd either hang at the café or her house to watch movies. And possibly get to know each other even better if they didn't know enough by that time.

"Well, that's done. But now I'm bored. What should I do? Oh yeah! I'll call Ryou to see when he wants to meet and I'll tell him what we're doing." With this thought in mind, Ichigo got up to get her phone and plopped down on her bed. She dialed the café's number.

_"Hello..?"_ Ryou finally answered- albeit, a bit groggily- after about five rings. (A/N: Oh my gosh, that's a lot of rings!)

"Ryou? You sound sleepy. Should I call later?" Ichigo asked casually.

_"Huh? Who is this?"_ He demanded confusedly.

"It's Ichigo, who do you think?!" She shrieked; a little annoyed that he couldn't tell it was her. Honestly, you'd think **he** would know.

_"Mmm… Ichigo who?"_ Ryou yawned. **(A/N: Oh my gosh! That's just cute! I can almost see him yawning while rubbing his eyes in such an innocent way… ~sighs~)**

"You idiot. You're still half-asleep, aren't you?" She sighed **(A/N: Hey! That's what I just did! ~sweat drops~ Gomen. Read on!) **"It's Ichigo Momomiya. You know, the girl you turned into a cat to save the future of the planet and keep it clean? Ringin' a bell here?"

Ryou was silent for a while and Ichigo thought he'd fallen asleep. She was just about to hang up when he answered. _"Hey Ichigo. What's up? Did you need something?"_

"As a matter of fact, I need to ask when you wanted to meet up for today."

_"Mm. Why don't you come over right now?"_ His voice was seductive and Ichigo was startled by it.

"Huh?! B-but… I-I don't want to-"

_"Come on, Ichigo. We'll have some fun,"_ he insisted using the same tone. He sounded more awake, though.

"A-are you just teasing me?! If you are, I'll be so mad at you."

_"Be mad at me for what?"_ He questioned. He was using his normal voice now and was quite confused. _"And why are you calling me so early?"_

"Don't even start with me!" She warned, but thought that he might've been asleep this whole time and finally woke up completely. "Uh! You know what? Never mind. You're off the hook."

_"Off the hook for what?"_ Poor Ryou was still confused and was now getting just a little irritated that Ichigo wouldn't tell him what was going on.

"You've been half-asleep since I called you, huh?" She finally answered correctly.

_"I guess… When did you call me?"_

"Just now genius. Wow, you really were asleep, weren't you?"

_"Yeah, sure. Whatever,"_ he answered hastily, wanting to get to the part about him being 'off the hook'. _"Why'd you say I'm off the hook? What'd I do?"_

"Well, this is a little embarrassing- for both of us, really- but you were still kind of asleep, but you sounded like you were finally wide awake. It's what you said that got me so worked up." She blushed at the thought as she explained it to him.

_"What did I say?"_ He was a little calmer now and only curious about the situation.

"Um, well, you might have asked that I go to the café right now to have some fun and I might have thought you were meaning something perverted by that…" She trailed off, too embarrassed to continue. **(A/N: As if she could continue. That was the whole story.)**

_"Oh! Uh-huh… Wow, that is embarrassing,"_ he chuckled.

"You're laughing?"

_"Well, in all honesty, I don't really know how else to react to this I don't usually act this way when I wake up, especially when I'm on the phone. Sorry about that."_

"Uh… No problem…" She replied nervously. _Why's he suddenly being so nice?_ She wondered.

_"Hey, I vaguely remember you saying you needed to ask me something?"_

"Oh, right! Um, when do you want to meet up today?"

_"Depends on where we're going."_

"How does that work?" Ichigo asked incredulously.

_"It doesn't. That's just how I am. Look, you just learned something new about me and the day hasn't even started yet!"_ Ryou enthused.

"Actually, I know you well enough to know how you are," she admitted.

_"Could you sound any more disturbed about it?"_

"Sorry. I guess I should tell you what we're doing. I was planning to go to the park and get an ice cream. You know, take things slow at first. Don't wanna jump right into it when we're trying to become friends."

_"That is a good idea, but even so, how do you always make everything seem childish?"_

"What do you mean?"

_"Well, just now. You said we should take things slow if we want to be friends. I don't know, but it just seems childish to me."_

"Well, excuse me for having a different way of phrasing things!" Ichigo pouted, even though Ryou can't see her. "You're such a meanie, Ryou."

_"I didn't mean it like that. Whatever."_ He sighed. _"We'll just make it for ten. That okay?"_

"Sure, but why ten?"

_"Because I need at least two and a half hours of more sleep before we do anything. And I suggest you take this time to get more sleep, so you're more adapt in case we end up at each other's throats. And you know it could happen."_

"B-but… I can't sleep…"

_"Why not?"_

"Bec-because… I had a dream. It was rather horrible."

_"Do you want to talk about it?"_

"Well, yeah, but not with you of all people. There are only three people I trust enough to tell it to because I know they'd keep it secret. And even then, I wouldn't tell them."

_"Let me guess: Mint, Ringo, and your boyfriend."_ He said 'your boyfriend' flatly.

"No way! I mean, Ringo is one of the ones I'd choose, but I can't even tell Masaya about it because he was in the dream."

_"I should've figured as much,"_ Ryou muttered.

Ichigo ignored him. "And I definitely wouldn't tell Mint because she'd go blabbing to everyone about it, and then I'll be embarrassed for life and never live it down, especially from you!"

_"Why do you care so much about what I think?"_

"I don't!"

_"You just said-"_

"I know what I said! Just forget it!"

Ryou sighed exasperatedly. _"Hey, why don't you come over?"_

Ichigo gasped. "That's exactly what you said earlier!"

_"Okay… But I'm wide awake this time and I swear I'm not being perverted about it."_

"How can I trust that? You've been known to-"

_"Whoa! Hold up… When have I ever-?"_

"When we first met."

_"Huh?"_

"When you and Keiichiro took me to the café for the first time, you showed me my mark."

_"Oh, you thought that was perverted? Geez, Ichigo. I was just showing you the mark because I thought it would be easier, or else you would've been searching all over your legs. I thought it sped things up. I'm sorry that you thought I was being forward."_

_That's the second time he's apologized,_ she thought. What's up with him? "I-I see. So… Oh! And I hit you when that happened too. I'm so sorry! I wouldn't have done it if I hadn't thought you were trying to touch me."

_"Actually, you kicked me, but it all turned out fine in the end. You got over it amazingly quick."_

"Hmmmm…" Ichigo moaned. Apparently, she was feeling really bad about her misunderstanding.

_"But seriously, though. Come over so we can talk. Might as well, since we're both awake."_

"Um… Okay. See you soon."

_"Bye."_

Ichigo hung up and sat on her bed for a while longer. After about five minutes had passed, she got up to get dressed, and then went downstairs to find a note from her parents on the breakfast table. It said that they were going to be gone for three weeks and to find somewhere to stay during that time. Setting the note back down on the table, she went into the kitchen where she found breakfast her mother had made for her.

After breakfast, she went back upstairs to pack for a three-week stay and returned to the downstairs. Making sure there were no safety hazards (stove left on, heater sitting next to drapes, etc.), she walked towards the door and realized she'd forgotten her list of events for the three weeks. She quickly ran upstairs and was back at the door in less than a minute. Checking once more that she had everything she needed, Ichigo walked out the door **(A/N: Locking it, of course.)** and headed for the café.

End of Chapter 3  
(Part 2)

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Me: There ya go, Ringo. You got your speaking part and it's still chapter 3!

Ringo: Yay! Thank you!

Me: So... That dream... I personally liked it. And I'm not just saying that cuz I wrote it. I didn't think I'd have the brainpower to write something that well! (Shut up those who want to take that comment and tease me with it! Grrr!)

Now, I know some of the things/ideas I put in this chapter were either used in other fanfics and I'm really sorry (especially since I never got permission from those people to do this), but it just came out through my fingertips and it just fit so well with my story and I love that kinda stuff so much! I beg of those- who had those ideas in their stories first- to PLEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAASSSE not murder me for it! Or torture me in any way! GOMEN! ~sobs~

Ringo: Oh, Froggy, I'm sure they'll forgive you. It was a harmless mistake. As long as you say you're sorry, I'm sure it'll be just fine!

Me: Thank you Ringo. ~sniffs~ You really are kind. ... NOW! I would like everyone to review! Pwetty pwease? With a strawberry on top? Or in Ringo's case... With an apple on top??

Ringo: Arigato! ^^


	5. Learning About The Dream

Author's Note: Dah, geez! I took long enough to update, didn't I! It's like I fell off the face of the Earth or sumpn'. ~pouts~ It's all because of the other interesting thingsto do on the computer. Stupid YouTube and AnimeFreak... being all fun to watch and everything. Keeping me away from my stories. ... O_o ... Haha! I'm sorry about that! Got a little "ranty" there. This is a great chapter and I hope everyone enjoys reading it! ^^

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Chapter 4

At the café, Ryou was just getting out of the shower and drying himself off. He leaves the adjoining bathroom to his room to get dressed. He'd decided to wear his signature white pants and black sleeveless shirt. Going back to the bathroom, Ryou fixes his hair and brushes his teeth **(A/N: Such a good little boy! JK!)**, and then goes downstairs.

"Hmm… Ichigo should be getting here any minute now," Ryou mused as he checked the clock. _Might as well be a good host and make some tea,_ he thought. Sure enough, Ichigo arrived in only five minutes. "Hi Ichigo," he greeted.

"Hey Ryou," she replied. She sounded distracted.

Ryou noticed this. "Hm? What's wrong? Is it that dream?"

_He remembered? I thought he would've forgotten by now,_ she thought in surprise. "Um, no actually. I found a note on the table from my parents saying that I had to find somewhere to stay for three weeks because they were going to be gone for that time."

"And they left you all alone?" He questioned in concern as he raised an eyebrow and cocked his head to the side.

"Oh, they do this sometimes when my dad's job calls for it. My mom goes because they can't stand to be away from each other for so long. There are many places I could stay, but I don't want to impose on anyone.

"I used to stay with my grandma, but she moved away. I could stay with Mint, but there'll probably be a catch and Pudding has her brothers and sister to worry about. Zakuro would definitely say 'no' and I can't stay at Berry's because she lives right next to Tasuku, and I'm worried he'd be coming over while we're trying to be girls." Ryou laughed at this and Ichigo kicked him.

"Ow! I'm sorry, but that just sounded so funny!" He exclaimed.

She cleared her throat and continued. "As I was saying, before I was so _rudely _interrupted"- glare –"Ringo has a brother, who would just annoy us 'til we crack. The only person I can stay with is Lettuce, but I don't want to be a burden to her. I guess I could just give Mint a shot."

"Wait, aren't you forgetting something?" Ryou blurted.

"What?"

"Here. You could stay here… if you want."

"Huh?! Uh, are you sure? Wouldn't that be kinda, I don't know, awkward?"

He shrugged. "At first maybe. But think of how convenient it is. It's really close to your school, so you won't have to wake up as early and work is right downstairs. Plus, you'll already be here every day for the three weeks we do our, uh, 'test'."

"That does make a lot of sense, but can we live with each other for that long without killing each other?"

"Didn't you want to do the test because you wanted us to be friends?"

"Now, who sounds like a child?"

"Answer the question."

Ichigo sighed. "Yes, I did say that. You're right. If I want us to be friends, I have to stop the jabs, too. Oh, but it's so hard! How are you doing it so easily?"

"I don't know. Maybe I want this more than you?" Little did Ichigo know, that was true.

"Yeah, right! You're the one who's always teasing me."

"Maybe it's a friendly gesture. Did you ever think of that?"

"Hm? Since when do you make friendly gestures?"

"You're pushing it, Ichigo. Do you want to stay here, or not?"

"Umm… Okay."

"Good. Wow, I didn't even have to tempt you with the pastries."

"I was already thinking about that, actually. That's what pushed me to the decision."

"Sure it is. You just wanted to see me more."

"Now, who's pushing it?"

Ryou knocked Ichigo's forehead with his fist, and then sat down at one of the tables. "Now, let's talk about that dream, shall we?" He suggested as he folded his arms over his chest.

"Um… okay. But you have to promise not to laugh at me or make fun of me in any way, or I'm leaving," she warned. A blush crept onto her face due to her memory of the dream.

Ryou breathed a reluctant sigh. "Alright, I promise I won't laugh or make fun of you in any way." He didn't notice the blush, fortunately.

Ichigo hesitated. "Good." She took a minute before taking a deep breath and sitting down at the table across from Ryou. "I was running through a wheat field. It was dark out and all I could see was a light in the distance. As I neared the light, I could make out a figure- a person. When I got closer, the person turned out to be Masaya."

When Ichigo said his name, her voice sounded strained. Ryou wondered what happened in the dream, figuring that her tone had something to do with it. _Maybe this dream told her something,_ he guessed.

Ichigo continued on with her story of the dream. When she got to the part where Ryou catches her after she trips, she stood up and walked behind his chair so he wouldn't see her face. Knowing this was the reason for going behind his chair, he kept quiet and didn't move; he only followed her with his eyes.

Five minutes passed and Ichigo was done telling her dream to Ryou, but she was crying by this time. Ryou was still dazing into space where he'd been staring since Ichigo started talking; a blank look plastered on his face. Ichigo kept behind his chair, afraid to hear what he had to say; afraid to look into his beautiful, turquoise eyes.

This is when she decided that the dream was definitely trying to tell her something. What ever it was, it was too much for her to take in. She was almost positive that the dream had to do with what happened at the café between Masaya and everyone. **(A/N: You're danged right it had something to do with it! … Gomen. That probably tipped everyone off. Oh well! Ya'll get over it! XD)**

"S-so… You… You… What..?" Ryou stammered slowly.

He was completely dumbfounded and didn't quite know what to say. She had dreamt about him! And she loved him in the dream! She even cried over him!! Inside, he was jumping with happiness and screaming at the top of his lungs. Well, okay, he'd do that if he was that kind of person, but that's basically what he would've done if he were given the choice to do that or die. But maybe he'd rather die than do that.

Ichigo hiccupped a few sobs before answering him. "I-I'm sor-sorry!"

This broke Ryou of his 'spell'. "Hm? Why are you sorry?" He asked as he turned to finally face her.

She made sure to look anywhere but at him. "I d-don't know. I just f-felt I h-had to say it." She sniffed and wiped her eyes. The waterworks had stopped.

Ryou sighed. "Ichigo, look at me."

She shook her head.

"Ichigo…"

"No."

"Why?"

"I can't."

Ryou ran a hand through his hair. _Why is she being so impossible? Just like always, huh?_

"I…" Ichigo started, catching his attention. "I'm going to bed. Goodnight!" She blurted and hurried to the stairs.

"It's not even night yet!" Ryou exclaimed, getting up from his chair.

"I know, but I have a lot to, um… a lot of sleeping to do," she finished lamely and ascended the stairs, tripping on every other step.

"Ichigo, get back here right now," he demanded firmly.

This caused Ichigo to stop and gulp. She turned around and walked back down the stairs. When she got to the bottom, she made the mistake of looking him in the eye and freaked out, turning back to the staircase.

"Ichigo," Ryou's voice was still firm, but oddly soothing and she found it safe to do as he said. "Come over here." He pointed to the tiled floor for emphasis, even though she still had her back to him.

Ichigo took one more gulp and began slowly walking backwards to where he was. She didn't trust herself to turn around for the fear of looking into his eyes again. Halfway between the stairs and Ryou, Ichigo bumped in to something warm and soft. She didn't remember there ever being that kind of decoration/item in the café. She turned her head and brown eyes met piercing blue orbs.

"Stop playing around and talk to me," Ryou said softly. This effect he was having on Ichigo was one she'd never experienced. She averted her gaze and Ryou turned her around. "To my face." He scrutinized her expression. She seemed sad.

She stared up at him with fearful eyes; fear of being laughed at, fear of being tossed aside, and fear of the concern that filled her body when she wondered if something would happen between Ryou and Masaya. What if the dream meant she liked Ryou and he knows? What if it means that Masaya will turn his back on them again; and she won't be able to bring him back this time? What if this meant she didn't love Masaya like she thought she did?

That was ridiculous!

Why wouldn't she love him? How could she _not_ love him?! She'd scream it out to the world if she could. Ichigo Momomiya is in love with Ryou Shirogane!

…Wait.

Ryou? It's Masaya Aoyama; not the jerk-of-a-boss with whom she was trying to befriend. So… why was it that Ryou was always on her mind? She knew one thing, at least. She'd never been this confused about anything in her life. Except for maybe that math test she had not too long ago. She was only able to answer around five or six problems out of twenty. But that's beside the point. Ichigo Momomiya was totally crushing on her boss.

And it just snuck up out of nowhere.

What's a girl to do? She smiled slightly; so small that Ryou wouldn't see it. Funny how the age-old question had found its way into her life. Why was this happening to her? She didn't need this. She didn't want it. Where was the simplicity in life? Did life have to _always_ be so hard? Especially when it came down to her.

"Ichigo?"

One would think she deserved an easy life. But no. She had to be a high school student still in junior high for the sake of one of her friends and she had a job at a café that only paid her ten dollars an hour for how hard she actually worked. She had to be a mutated superhero- who had an alien admirer, her parents were off on another of her dad's business trips, and to top it off, her friends and boyfriend were fighting about something she can't believe!

What in the world was this, well world, coming to?! And now she was falling for her boss! Yeah. Real simple life she lived. She was _so_ over it by now.

"Ichigo..?"

How the heck could she function like this?! She didn't understand anything anymore.

"Ichigo!!" A voice shouted.

_Hmm… Sounds like Ryou,_ she thought wistfully. That's when it hit her. She'd completely spaced out when they were supposed to be talking about her stupid dream! The dream that had tried to tell her something that she just could not understand. Oops. She better answer before he yelled again.

"What?" She wondered distractedly.

"Did you fall asleep or something? You just zoned out." Ryou was staring at her with such concern- and a hint of annoyance- that she took this time to blush.

"I- uh… er… I'm s-sorry, um… I didn't know I was… that is…" Ryou hushed her by placing his right index finger on her lips. His left hand rested on his hip and he was leaning so far down to her that their noses were just an inch apart.

"I got it, so stop stuttering already, alright?" He straightened and removed his finger. Her blush had grown from their proximity and he noticed. Now, his expression was one of curiosity. "Hey, why is your face so red? Are you hot?"

_No, but you are,_ Ichigo thought as she tried to fight her redness. "Uh, n-no… I'm just… uh…"

"You're stuttering again," he accused. _Does she have to be cute_ and _annoying at the same time? I've never met someone like this before in my life,_ he thought idly. "Listen, I'm not going to laugh at you for dreaming about that. If anything, I'm going to help you figure out what it means."

"So it does mean something," she validated and sighed hopelessly. "I guess… if you really want to help me… fine. What does it mean?"

"Promise you won't blame me for what I'm about to say?"

"Okay, I promise."

"It's nothing against you or your boyfriend. That's what I promise." Ryou took a deep breath before explaining everything. "Your dream means that you will soon see Masaya's true side- his hidden side- and you will hate him for it. You'll begin to realize right then that you don't love him. And you may even start to realize that you like someone else- maybe even love them.

"Now, I'm not saying it's me. Just because you dreamed it was me doesn't mean it will be. I could have just been a substitute for whoever it really is, since we don't know who the guy is." _God, I hope it's me,_ he pleaded.

_But… it is you,_ Ichigo clarified to herself. "I see… But…"

"Huh?"

"Will it be you who saves me?" She questioned in a small voice.

Ryou stared at her incredulously and couldn't speak. She was hiding her eyes with her bangs and wouldn't look at him. Neither spoke for a long time. They were frozen.

End of Chapter 4

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YAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAYY!!! This is beginning to be sooooo interesting! I can't wait to find out what happens next cuz even I don't know! (Haven't thought of it!) I don't feel like having a convo with the characters this time, so I'mma just say: Review please! ^-^


	6. An Unexpected Event At The Park

Author's Note: I'm finally back!!! I swear, I'll try to update sooner! That is a promise! Made by me! The one and only MetallicBlueFrog! This one has a lot of kawaii-ness between Ryou and Ichigo and I must say that even I was swooning... AND I'M THE ONE WHO WROTE THE DANGED THING!!! Well, I'll just let everyone enjoy the chapter now. Cuz it. Is. AWESOME! R&R! ^^

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Chapter 5

_"Will it be you who saves me?"_

Ryou stared at Ichigo for a very long time, trying to figure out why she would ask such a question. Ichigo kept staring towards the floor, not really seeing it. Neither realized it yet, but an hour has passed since Ichigo asked the question that made them uncomfortable in the heavy silence that followed. Ryou shifted his feet and gulped at his answer.

"M…" He tried, causing the redhead to glance up at him through her bangs. "M-maybe."

Ichigo gasped and shot her head up at him; shocked expression planted on her face. Ryou rephrased his answer.

"I-it all depends if I'm there when it happens," he stammered and looked away.

Ichigo's face turned solemn and she looked back down. "You-" Her voice cracked and cut her off. "You're always there… Ryou. Never… when I needed you most… did you not come to my aid… and save me from Kish or Deep Blue. How could you not know… whether you'll be there… the one time that could be the most heart-breaking moment in my life? Please… I need you to be there for me, Ryou!!!" She screamed it over and over, "Be there! Please! I need you! Save me from the one person I love most!!" Ichigo was crying now. Falling to her knees, she crossed her arms across her stomach and grasped her sides.

"Ichigo, calm down! You're having a panic attack! Ichigo!!" Ryou kneeled down to her level and shook her shoulders. "Ichigo, calm down and listen to me! You'll be just fine! I won't let anyone hurt you! I promise!" He stopped shaking her and she stopped screaming. Now, she was only weeping and Ryou had rested his forehead against hers, hands still gripping her shoulders. "I will be there. I promise. I'll kill myself if I'm not."

Ichigo sniffled a few sobs and dried her eyes. "Okay," she said quietly.

"Come on," Ryou said as he stood up and reached out a hand to her. "Let's go."

"Okay." Ichigo shakily took Ryou's offered hand and stood with his support. "Thanks… Ryou. You actually are a sweet guy after all."

"Huh?" He looked at her.

She wiped away the rest of her tears and smirked. "But only when you want to be."

This had caught Ryou off-guard and he was puzzled. He took a few more minutes to figure it out and smirked himself. "Are you giving me a compliment?" He asked slyly.

"Maybe…" Ichigo replied coyly.

Ryou rolled his eyes and began walking towards the doors to the café and signaled for her to follow him. She happily complied and pranced up to his side as they left.

"So we're going to the park?" Ryou asked after a while.

Ichigo giggled before answering mischievously. "Yep!" She practically sang it out and she placed her right pointer finger next to the left side of her mouth and made a small 'o' with her lips, and then winked her right eye.

Ryou about had a heart attack from seeing that little display of cuteness from his favorite strawberry, but he kept it well hidden and rolled his eyes again at her. "I swear, you're so weird."

"Yeah, look who's talking, Mr. Catboy," Ichigo shot back playfully. She kept on walking ahead of Ryou and hummed a nameless tune to herself. 'Mr. Catboy' took this time, while he was out of her sight, to let himself blush lightly at her comment.

They walked in comfortable silence the rest of the way to their destination. When they got to the park, Ichigo ran towards the fountain and started twirling in circles. Ryou watched her as she sang a very familiar song. He recognized it to be "Come" by Namie Amuro. The more he listened to her sing, the more he loved her and admitted to himself that she was pretty good singer.

"Hey, Ryou! Come join me!" Ichigo yelled from the other side of the fountain.

"Alright, I'm comin'." He walked over to where she was, but she pranced away to the other side of the fountain and Ryou stopped. "I thought you wanted me to come over here," he reminded.

Ichigo giggled and made an innocent face. "But now I'm over here!"

_What is this girl up to?_ Ryou wondered to himself. "If I go over there, will you still be there?" He challenged.

"Ummm… I don't know!" Ichigo was having so much fun playing with him that she didn't even notice how close she was getting to a nearby bench.

"You do realize I could easily catch up to you, right?"

"Uh-huh!"

"You asked for it!"

He darted towards her and she squeaked in turn, making a break for the trees. Before she could even take three steps, she found herself falling and everything was in slow motion.

Ryou's eyes grew wide and his lips parted slightly as he saw the way Ichigo tripped on one of the legs of the bench she had been near. Her body twisted towards the fountain and Ryou was just one second too late to save her. However, he was close enough that Ichigo could grab hold of his shirt, pulling him in with her. The last thing they heard was a loud splash that emitted from their combined weight.

Ryou was the first to surface for air. He gasped it in and immediately noticed that he was on top of Ichigo, preventing her from surfacing with him. Quickly getting off of her, he pulled her out of the fountain and laid her on the bench.

"Ichigo! Ichigo, can you hear me?! Ichigo!" Ryou shouted.

He tried slapping her face and shaking her shoulders a little, but nothing happened. That's when he realized that he had to give her mouth-to-mouth. First, he did chest compressions. Then, he followed up with the fleshy tunnel of air. (A/N: That's right! That's what I'm calling it! Deal wit it!)

"Come on, Ichigo. It's not that bad. You're okay. Ichigo, just hang on. Please…" He kept repeating the CPR cycle, until she finally started coughing and sat up. "Ichigo!" Ryou exclaimed and sighed in relief.

Ichigo's coughs disintegrated into wheezing before she was able to breathe normally. Ryou patted her back to help get air back in her lungs. She turned to him with dumbfounded and curious eyes.

"Ryou?" She questioned.

"Yeah?" He questioned back.

Ichigo sat still and silent for a minute before her lips curved into a smile, and then she burst out laughing. Ryou was- to say the least- utterly confused as to why she was laughing at a time like this.

"Why are you laughing?" He asked, bewildered. "You almost _drowned_! You should be shocked out of your wits and panicking right about now!"

He didn't know why, but he felt like yelling at her. She did nothing wrong. So why was he yelling? Was it because she had him this worried? That couldn't be it, could it? Yes, that has to be! It's the only logical way to explain his behavior at the moment.

Ichigo looked at him with a guilty look, that of a child who just got scolded for sneaking a cookie out of the cookie jar. All laughter of hers has ceased. "I-I'm sorry… Ryou. I just found it so… I'm sorry." She turned down her head, dejected.

Ryou stared sternly at her for a long time. He was almost glaring at her. His hands were on his hips and he was bending forward so that he was eye-level with her. He finally stood straight and crossed his arms over his chest, closing his eyes. "I understand…" He started, earning the redheaded girl in front of him to glance up and see his face. His face… that was contorted into that of stubbornness and concern.

_What does he understand?_ Ichigo asked herself.

Ryou continued. "I understand… that you were just… having fun. But… I was… I was really… worried… about you," he explained slowly and quickly admitted, "And what really gets me is that I'm the one who made you almost drown!" He slowed down again. "I don't think… I don't think I'd be able to… live with myself… if I was the cause of you drowning. I'm sorry for yelling at you for laughing. But because of this… I found nothing funny about it." He let his arms fall loosely to their respective sides and hesitated before raising them to hug her tightly. "I'm sorry," he repeated into her ear.

Ichigo stiffened as soon as Ryou wrapped his arms around her. Suddenly becoming very nervous, she felt her animal DNA begin to swirl rapidly inside of her. Before they knew it, Ichigo had turned into a cat.

This caught them both off-guard, since she hadn't felt her wildcat genes manifest in the longest time. Ryou stared at her in disbelief and she stared back shyly, a massive pink blush appearing on her face. Then, Ryou smirked.

"Wow, Ichigo. First the ears and tail, and now you're an actual cat? I have to say, I kinda missed having my cat friend around… you catty little thing!" Ryou rubbed his nose with hers and smiled mischievously. He'd picked her up by the back of her neck, so now he was holding her so that she was facing him.

Ichigo's ears perked up at the familiar nickname he'd given her the first time she ever turned into a cat and she blushed a little more at the Eskimo Kiss. She then glared at him and pouted when she realized she needed to be serious. Then, she pointed at him with her tiny paw and pointed to herself.

"I'm sorry, what's that, Ichigo? I don't know sign language very well," he joked. He always did love it when Ichigo turned into a cat. She was much more fun to tease that way.

Ichigo meowed, trying to tell him to change into a cat too. Ryou pretended not to understand and said, "Hold on, Ichigo. I don't know what you're saying. Let me transform into a cat too."

Ichigo rolled her eyes in aggravation and thought, _No duh, genius_. Now, Ryou was a cat as well and he was acting pretty smug. "And just why are you smirking?" Ichigo asked haughtily.

"Because this is _so_ amusing," Ryou replied truthfully.

"Just kiss me already!" Ichigo snapped.

"What, no dinner… no movie? You're just straight to the punch." He teased.

"Fine! Let me rephrase that. Will you _please_ kiss me so that I can return to my human form and **kill** you?!" She hissed.

"Well, now that you say it like that, I really don't want to turn you back." Ryou turned his back to her and sat down, pretending to be hurt by her threat.

"Why not?" Ichigo seethed through her teeth.

"Because… you said you were going to kill after I changed you back." He kept up his façade; not turning to look at her, though he wanted to.

"Then, I'll just go look for someone else to kiss and come back to kill you," she planned and began walking away.

_She can't kiss anyone else! I won't let her. She's mine!_ Ryou thought possessively. (A/N: I know possessiveness isn't exactly a good thing, but it's sweet if you think about it 'cause it just means he really cares about her; so much that he's willing to go at any lengths just to keep her to himself… whether she's his or not.) "Wait! Okay, I'm sorry, I'll change you back. Just please don't kill me," he begged. That made me sound like I believed she was going to kill me. Oh, well. As long as she doesn't go kissing other people, it doesn't matter.

Ichigo smirked to herself before turning around and pretended to still be angry with him, even though she never really was that angry with him. Her anger subsided as soon as she realized it was stupid to be angry at something as simple as a hug. "Alright," she sighed dramatically, trying to seem reluctant. "I forgive you. You may change me back without dying." She started laughing inside, but somehow managed to keep it from showing on her face.

Ryou sighed in relief, and then took the two small steps towards Ichigo and gently pressed his kitten's nose to hers. Ichigo sparkled and transformed into the redheaded girl everyone knew and loved. 'Mr. Catboy' transformed back as well and hoisted an arm up onto Ichigo's shoulder and leaned heavily on her.

"Man, I'm tired. Let's go home and hit the hay," he suggested. He wasn't really tired. He just wanted to be somewhere more private with her so that he wouldn't feel bad if passersby thought he was being the rude jerk that Ichigo always made him out to be.

"You can't be tired already!" Ichigo whined. "We barely just got started and we haven't even gotten any ice cream yet! We were supposed to get to know each other more. That's what all this is about, remember? We can't leave just like that." She snapped her fingers for emphasis on the last word.

Ryou sighed exasperatedly. "Then, how about we get an ice cream cone, circle the park _once_, and go back home where we can just chill?"

Ichigo thought it over a moment and gave in. "Fine. But we have to do something **together** while we're there, or there's really no point to any of this."

He shrugged indifferently, his voice an octave higher. "Alright. That's cool."

"Then, let's go." Ichigo walked past Ryou and turned around. Her mood was suddenly brighter. "I see the ice cream stand over there. Come on, Ryou!" She grabbed his arm and pulled him along, happily smiling and thinking of the flavor she wanted.

They got to the cart and waited behind two other groups. One was a four-person family standing in front and the second was a couple standing right in front of them. Ichigo hadn't let go of Ryou's arm yet. For one thing, she was to busy deciding on her ice cream and didn't think about it. Another thing… she forgot she was holding on to him. Of course, Ryou didn't complain. Mainly because he didn't mind. He was enjoying it, actually.

The small line moved up and the man of the couple in front of them sweetly asked his girlfriend what flavor she wanted. She looked confused, so the man ordered for her. Apparently, he ordered her favorite flavor because the woman squealed in joy, and then they nuzzled each other's foreheads. The old man tending the ice cream stand had a soft spot for loving couples, so he let them off with _free_ ice cream. This gave Ryou an idea, since he really didn't feel like spending money.

After the couple left, Ryou and Ichigo stepped up and the old man noticed how Ichigo was holding Ryou's arm. He smiled softly and asked them what they would like.

"Um…" Ichigo murmured. She still didn't know.

"How about a two-scoop?" Ryou suggested in a husky voice.

"Okay!" Ichigo beamed. "But I'm still not sure what I want."

Ryou leaned forward towards the old man and said, "The girl loves sweets so much, I'm surprised she never gains a pound. I can't help but love _her_, though." He took this chance to order for her. "She'll have a strawberry and chocolate cone, and I'll have a vanilla and strawberry."

Ichigo whipped her head towards Ryou and looked at him in shock. "R-Ryou, you didn't have to do that," she complained lightly. She wasn't so much complaining, but she didn't think it was fair for him to have to order for her just because she was having trouble deciding.

"Of course I did… babe," he replied, trying out the pet-name. "That's what you would've ended up getting anyway, so I saved you the confusion." His voice was kind and matter-of-fact.

"Oh…" Then, Ichigo realized he called her 'babe' and glanced back at him. "Did you just call me 'babe'?"

"I call you that all the time, hun." Another pet-name.

"What in the world has-" Ryou cut her off by kissing her. When he broke the lip-lock, he situated his lips right by her ear and whispered, "Play along."

"Huh?"

Ryou kept whispering. "Pretend I'm tickling your ear and giggle."

"But you are tickling my ear," she whispered back. "And why am I playing along?"

"Just do it."

Ichigo built up the nerve to giggle and successfully managed to coo, "Stop it, Ryou! That tickles!"

Ryou smirked by her ear and whispered, "Good. Now, playfully push me away and say something about paying for our ice cream." He thought to himself, She's almost a pro at this.

Ichigo did as told and playfully pushed him away, keeping the giggly smile on her face. "Come on, Ryou! We need to pay for our ice cream." Ryou heard the sweetness in her voice and couldn't but think he really didn't need ice cream when he had her.

"Alright." Ryou looked back up at the old man. "How much, sir?"

"Oh, it's on the house. You two make such a lovely couple, so just enjoy the ice cream."

"Thank you. That's very kind," Ryou praised when they were handed their ice cream.

"Wait, we really should pay you something," Ichigo said, finally letting go of Ryou's arm, who had been holding both cones. Ryou looked at her. What is she doing?

"No, no! I couldn't possibly accept currency from a young, loving couple such as you," the old man protested.

"We simply must pay you," Ichigo persisted. "Ryou, give him ten dollars."

"Ichigo, he said we could have them free. It's alright if we don't pay," Ryou argued. He tried to keep a soft- but firm- tone so that it didn't seem like he was irritated with the thought of paying money that was said to be unnecessary, which he was.

"But I couldn't leave without paying! I wouldn't feel right." She turned to the old man. "Please, let us pay."

"Well, little lady, if you want to. But it is free."

"I know." She turned to Ryou.

He sighed with a smile that said, "You are hopeless." He got out his wallet and took out the requested money. "Here you go, sir."

"Thank you very much for your generosity." He took the money and smiled gratefully at them. "You better hold on to her, son," the old man advised as he pointed to Ichigo. "She's a keeper."

"I know," Ryou acknowledged. He smiled lovingly at Ichigo and she attempted to return the same smiled. Her thoughts, however, were wound around one thing: Why was Ryou looking at her like that? She knew this couldn't possibly be fake because it looked all too real for her. Maybe Ryou was just a really good actor?

"Well, you two take care of each other, you hear?"

"We will," Ryou answered, looking back at the old man and grabbed Ichigo's hand.

"Good bye, sir. Thanks for the thought!" Ichigo waved to the old man.

They arrived back at the café- ice creams half-eaten- and went to a room in the back where no one ever thought of going. In this room- which wasn't at all empty like Ryou's room was- was a suede camel sofa with pillow armrests and pillow back cushions. A 32" flat-screen platinum TV hung on the wall above a small cabinet that contained two game consoles and about a couple dozen games. On top of the cabinet sat a silver DVD player and next to the cabinet was a slim selection of movies. In the center of the room- well, a few feet from the center, actually- was a mahogany wood pool table with blue felt. **(A/N: That's right. It's not the traditional green.)**

This room definitely was bigger than Ryou's room and Ichigo wondered why it wasn't his room to begin with. Of course, the bathrooms were upstairs and there was no closet, so she figured it was alright for him to have the room he had. At least the bigger room had entertainment and lots of space for parties.

Suddenly, Ichigo's mind became that of a child as she had the urge to challenge Ryou to a video game or a round of pool. No one ever knew this, but Ichigo was really good at pool. She beat her father all the time when she was younger. He was always proud of her for that. She leered mischievously and caught Ryou's attention with it.

"What's with that expression on your face?" He asked, raising an eyebrow.

Ichigo chuckled almost… evilly. "Oh, Ryou," she sang, "would you like to play a game?"

Now He was suspicious. "What kind of game?" He asked cautiously.

She smirked and simply said, "Pool."

Ryou burst out laughing, thinking she was kidding. "You want to play **me** at _pool_?" He questioned incredulously. He'd quickly gotten over his small fit of laughter that had erupted so unexpectedly.

"Uh-huh!" Ichigo answered enthusiastically. The way she answered was bubbly and very high-pitched. She almost sounded ditzy, but strangely adorable. **(A/N: In Ryou's eyes of course.)**

"Then, let's do it… Strawberry."

End of Chapter 5

* * *

Like I said, kawaii-ness. How was it? Other than kawaii?

Mint: I liked it. I've never liked Masaya in the first place.

Me: Hey Mint! Wow, this is the first time we've talked, huh?

Mint: Yeah, yeah. Whatever.

Kish: I hated it. ICHIGO IS MINE!!!

Me: You're not still on _that_, are you?

Kish: Of course. Why wouldn't I love Ichigo?

Me: Well, for starters, she don't love you back and never will... just like she told you already.

Kish: Tch!

Me: And... she has a boyfriend and not to mention another love interest. But I know someone who likes you!

Kish&Mint: Who??

Me: (smirks) Mint.

Mint&Kish: WHAT?!

Mint: (blushes) D-do not!

Me: Then, why are you blushing?

Mint: (blushes harder)

Me: That's what I thought.

Zakuro: (sighs from boredom) Please review for the odd, match-making author.


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